According to the Maid
by skrblr
Summary: POV of Marian's ladyinwaiting. She, Marian, and Sir Guy are riding in Sherwood when the Merry Men 'happen' to appear. Robin's men take them to their camp. Becca is not happy.
1. Afternoon Walks

I had no idea why Marian was all happy all of a sudden. Particularly while taking a ride in Sherwood with Guy of Gisbourne, her latest suitor. Normally she would scowl and say nothing to the creature, but today the two were chatting away like chipmunks. Very suspicious, if you asked me.

"Becca, what do you know about it all?" Marian asked.

"What 'all', milady?" I asked, shooting her a venomous glare. It really wasn't proper for her to include me, a mere lady-in-waiting, in conversations with noblemen.

"We were discussing Robin Hood," Marian said, not heeding my look. Guy looked about as uncomfortable with me joining in as I was.

"Well," I replied politely. "He… Is much talked of among the servants, at least."

"He is talked of by everyone constantly!" Guy burst out. "He's only been outlawed for six months, but serfs are already flocking to him by the dozen. He's robbed at least half the Normans at court. He had better not try anything on this outing." Marian didn't look surprised in the least to hear him speak so vehemently.

"I sincerely hope he doesn't," said Marian. I could tell she didn't mean it. For one thing, her hands fluttered with the reins. She was just itching for some excitement. Guy, of course, had only known her a few weeks, instead of the five years I had, so he didn't recognize her gesture as one of anticipation rather than fear. He patted her arm, which almost made her shiver in disgust. Riding behind her, I noticed, though she did a good job of hiding it from Gisbourne.

"Well. I can assure you, with me and my little escort," a score of men-at-arms surrounded us, 'for security', though all they did was whisper about Marian and me, "Robin Hood would never dare show his face, let alone his arrows." Marian raised an eyebrow, but quickly lowered it. Guy saw nothing.

"If you say so," she murmured obediently.

We neared the middle of our part of Sherwood. Gisbourne guided his horse, a black, ill-mannered thing that liked to bite, closer to Marian's chestnut mare. He leaned toward Marian a little, sneaking a hand onto hers. At that moment, an arrow suddenly glanced off the glove of that very hand. I, much alarmed, shoved Guy aside and grabbed Marian's wrist, checking to see if the arrow that had hit Gisbourne had touched her at all. There was not so much as a scratch. Strangely, my lady was grinning widely and her hands were fiddling with the reins again.

"Marian! Are you all right?" Guy asked. He held his hand close to him, despite the lack of injury. The arrow had fallen to the ground. It hadn't even pierced the glove.

"Oh, just dandy," Marian replied. "And you?"

"I was lucky."

"That wasn't luck! If I'd wanted you to get hurt, you would've been," complained a voice from the branches above. Marian jittered even more, her smile growing. The men-at-arms fell all over themselves drawing swords andfumbling witharrows. A few of them ended up bumping into each other. "You are, at this very moment, surrounded by forty men with bows trained on you. Dismount and drop your weapons." The cowardly soldiers obeyed. I folded my arms and glared into the trees. Marian was shaking. Poor dear, probably scared to—Forget that. Marian was never scared. She was probably trying not to giggle. She turned towards me and I saw this was indeed the case. She mouthed something. I was never great at reading lips, so I scratched my head and continued to search the leaves for humans. None manifested themselves.

"Very good of you," the voice said once all the men-at-arms had obeyed. A boy around my age—fourteen—dropped from a tree and gathered up all the weapons. None of the men cared to stop him. When he came to the soldiers behind me, I grabbed his shoulder.

"If you're going to rob my lady, I want some answers. Who's your leader, who are you, and what do you want?" I demanded. He gently removed my hand, and fortunately for him, didn't kiss it. Stepping back a few paces, holding a menagerie of weapons in his thin little arms, he responded cheerfully.

"Didn't Marian tell you?" Marian heard, and turned to me apologetically.

"Oops. I guess I forgot," she said.

"Right," the boy said doubtfully.

"Well, sorry Much, but you know how ladies-in-waiting can be if they think you're heading into trouble," Marian explained. Ah. His name was Much. Guy suddenly broke into our pleasant conversation.

"Tell your—" a few expletives, "Leader I want to talk with him." Much nodded agreeably.

"Okay. Gisbourne wants to talk to you!" The boy hollered.

"Just a sec! Scarlet, could you take care of the horses? And Little John, Wat, and Arthur, tie up those men. The rest of you help out where needed," the voice ordered. Nine green-clad men slid from leafy boughs. Three of the biggest started roughly wrapping and knotting ropes and vines around each of the twenty (wimpy) men-at-arms. A few others joined them.A good-looking man in red, who had very nice blue eyes, coupled with blond hair peeking out under a scarlet hat, deftly led the twenty docile horses back the way we had come. One or two others helped him out. Forty bow-toting men indeed.

"So. You said you wanted to talk to me." My head snapped over to where another smiling man stood in front of us. Bright green eyes were the first thing I noticed. They saw everything. I could tell. Gisbourne, who hadn't been aware of his presence either, looked shocked and stumbled over a few attempts at saying something before his brain kicked in again.

"You! Are you that blasted Robin Hood?"

"That would be me," Robin Hood replied brightly. "Need anything?"

"You have stolen from the noble people of England too long!"

"It's only been half a year, and they're not that noble," he said. Marian was having a jolly time watching this exchange. She was lucky Guy wasn't watching her face. I was, though, and I started thinking of the outline for a very long and in-depth berating once we were alone.

"Draw your sword, you—" More cursing. I hoped Marian wasn't listening too closely.

"Goodness. Watch your language, Gully," Robin Hood said.

"GULLY? Why you insolent Saxon puppy!" With a swish that almost took his horse's ears off, Guy unsheathed his sword and scrambled off the animal. Robin merrily drew his, as well. Gisbourne's, a very long, pointy, dangerous looking sharp object, sort of threw the outlaw's into shadow. Robin Hood's was chipped, dull, and had a rather decrepit appearance. So I watched as the two sliced and chopped and blocked and so on for a few minutes, pretty much being certain of the outcome. Despite Guy being the best swordsman I knew, though, this outlaw (who was about a foot shorter than Guy) managed to get in a few thrusts at the man. Guy got in quite a few more thrusts, but it was obvious Robin Hood wasn't too bad with weapons. Still, it was with more than a little surprise that I suddenly beheld Gisbourne disarmed.

"You just… My sword…" Sir Guy of Gisbourne examined his empty hands. Out of the blue, he reached out and grabbed the outlaw's neck. Robin looked mildly interested. Then he was out of the knight's grasp. I pondered on the events of the last half-second.

"I suppose we're finished fighting for now," Robin commented. I still didn't understand first, how he'd won the duel, second, how he'd gotten out of Gisbourne's rather strong grip, and third, what was going on in general.

"Okay!" Robin shouted. "If Guy, Marian, and Becca would please follow me. My people, make sure the soldiers are secured, and meet up once you've sent them home. You know what to do!" I watched in fascination as he took Marian's bridle and led the horse along. Marian didn't hurt him for taking the bridle. That was a first. Much grabbed Guy's bridle and dodged the black stallion's teeth.

"Let go of that, boy!" Guy yelled at Much from on top of his black charger. Much grinned impudently and stuck his tongue out. Guy probably would've throttled him for that, but Much had tied his hands behind his back. I can't say I was disappointed that Guy was having to go through a little humiliation. He'd been too arrogant the whole time I'd known him. Well, maybe not really 'known'. 'Been acquainted with' is more accurate. I just stood behind Marian while he talked to her father and occasionally said something to her.

"I would say, 'welcome to Sherwood', but it would sound stupid. So, uh, hope you enjoy your visit," Robin Hood told Gisbourne. We had traveled a few minutes, on barely-visible deer paths. All that pretty cloth the horses had been wearing was ripped, as was the hem of Marian's dress. I sighed. Now that we stopped, I slid down from my own plain palfrey and examined the damage.

"What do you want with us!" Sir Guy shouted.

"Well, I was hoping you'd consent to having a bite to eat with me, but if you'd rather not, I'll just take your purse and you can go." Guy growled and squirmed to get free. He fell off his horse.

"You all right?" Robin asked, helping him up with concern.

"ARR!" Guy yelled eloquently. Robin nodded. He led the man to a tree and sat him down against its trunk. At Robin's gesture, Much came over and skillfully tied Guy to it. Marian waved me aside and dismounted. She walked over to Robin Hood.

"Thanks. What are you planning on doing with him?" He shrugged.

"I'll leave it up to the Merry Men." I stalked over to them.

"Marian, this is not at all proper," I whispered to her. She laughed.

"Robin, this is Rebecca," she said. "And Becca, this is Robin Hood. Is that proper enough for you?"

"You know this rascal?" Guy asked Marian. I had been about to ask the same. Scary thought.

"Oh, of course! We've been best friends since we were little," she said. "Though I haven't really spent time with him since September." It was March now. Well, there was one good thing. She hadn't seen him since before he was outlawed. I dragged her away from Robin. He grinned and started preparing things.

"Marian, I want some answers. True ones," I added, knowing her tendency to embellish. "Have you seen Robin Hood since he became and outlaw?"

"Once or twice. I set this up with him two weeks ago."

"I see. What is 'this'?" My lecture for once we were back home lengthened by a few paragraphs.

"It's this plan I came up with. You know how I hate Sir Guy," Marian said. Gisbourne looked astonished, the self-centered idiot. "Of course you do. Anyway, I wanted to get back at him for wasting my afternoons. Well, I had a few more purposes. So I went to Robin, who has his own reasons for accepting."

"Accepting what?"

"Patience! Accepting the whole plan. I would bring Guy into the middle of Sherwood. The hope had been that he and I would be alone, without ladies-in-waiting or men-at-arms, but that sort of failed miserably. But Robin has always been good at improvising. Anyway, he must've anticipated Guy bringing along buddies, and took care of them very nicely." Robin bowed. "Then—we didn't entirely work out this part—Robin and his men would do something with Guy and I'd hang out in the greenwood with them for a while." I was flabbergasted. She hadn't been planning on taking me along! The nerve.

"Actually, that wasn't exactly The Plan," Robin interjected. "But we can't very well go into detail with our good friend Gully right here." Guy ranted and thrashed about for a little bit. The outlaw kept building a fire. For a minute or two I said nothing. This was all a bit of a shock. Marian had never been an obedient child, but I hadn't even had the slightest suspicion she had secrets this big.

"Do you prefer fish or fowl? I would offer you venison, but it is the king's, so we only shoot the deer if we must," Robin said to us. "Gully? Marian? Beccadutch? Much?" Beccadutch?

"Beccadutch?" I said.

"Yep. You just don't seem like an ordinary 'Rebecca' or even just 'Becca.' Hence, Beccadutch." Wow. Robin Hood was not normal, even for someone who lives in trees and is friends with Marian.

"Food?" prompted Much. "And what about the others?"

"They'll be here soon enough. Meanwhile, do you want to make it or shall I?"

"What are we having?" I was getting bored of their conversation; something I was good at hiding from five years of practice, but still made me want to whack them for not being interesting enough. Resisting the urge, I gazed off into the forest, tuning them out successfully.

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Yay! The first (unnamed) chapter is over with! Do I need to include more descriptive passages? Do I even need to tell you to read and review? Hope you liked it, because I had lots of fun writing it. Lots and lots of fun. 


	2. Mornings

"So, do you want to go explore?" Marian asked. _She _certainly wanted to delve into the secrets of Sherwood. As her lady-in-waiting, I was in charge of her welfare, but also attending to her wishes. This had left me in troublesome spots in the past.

"I…Don't really want to, no," I said, trying to be tactful about it.

"Oh. How 'bout just around camp, then," she said, leaving no room for refusal. No use arguing with a redhead. I sighed, gathering up my green skirts. If I had known this whole scenario would be happening, I most certainly would have tried to wear some other color. After all, I didn't want to be thought of as endorsing outlaws. Oh, what a bad thought. Sherwood was getting to my head.

"Hey! It's… Girls!" someone called. A face appeared above a bush. It was the red-clad outlaw. However much he may have looked nice, he had the manners of a particularly impolite beetle. I wasn't sure what I might've said, not having contemplated possible conversations and/or retorts with outlaws in my spare time. So, fortunately for me, Marian spoke up.

"Nice to see you too Scarlet." Now I knew three outlaws—Much, Scarlet, Robin Hood. Oh dear. Remembering names was NOT the thing to do. Pretty soon I'd be living amongst them, wearing green tunics and stealing purses and eating the king's deer and running around with sharp objects and I shouldn't let my imagination run off like that. I was not on good terms with the creative part of my brain.

"Oh—Never mind, it's just Marian. Oh! And another one!"

"That's my handmaid and very good friend Becca. Don't scare her off," Marian warned. I can take care of myself, thank you very much, Marian. Oh, well. I suppose she was being nice. Marian, being nice? Sherwood must be getting to her head, too.

"Forget it. She's with Marian," Scarlet yelled to the outlaws. They, who had been running over, disappointedly slowed down. They all crowded around anyway, though. I edged closer to Marian. Whether for her sake or mine, I don't really know, but either way, it made me feel better. I gave a slight curtsey and polite smile to the outlaws. Marian smirked at me.

"They aren't all that bad."

"Yes we are!" said a particularly tall one.

"That's Little John. And they really aren't, they just like to think they are." Ha. They were just as bad as they said. They were outlaws, after all!

"Who's making dinner?" Robin shouted. The men dispersed immediately. "Fine. Davy, you're in charge of the food, and don't forget we have thirteen mouths tonight. The rest of you, we need to discuss something."

"Come on, let's keep looking around," Marian said, pulling me along. With much reluctance, I followed as she gave me a tour of every tree and rock in a hundred foot radius. Fascinating.

Fortunately for my quickly-decreasing attention, the stew was done before too long.

"Food!" someone hollered. Marian and the nine others dashed to the pot, sweeping me along with them. Guy remained sullenly tied to the tree. Somehow a line was formed, Marian and I somewhere in the middle, amongst muddy, dirty, smelly, happy, hungry, green-wearing outlaws. A wooden bowl half-filled with watery mush was handed to me. What a dinner. It was liberally supplemented with views of Sir Guy being fed the stuff, though. That had Marian and me giggling the whole night, sitting in the outskirts with me trying to ignore the men and she yelling insults back and forth with them. All in all, a surprisingly nice afternoon walk with Guy.

I hated birds. Especially in the morning. If I had my way, I would probably turn them all into pies, or some other delectable concoction. (Can you tell I was hungry?) Morning had arrived, bringing along the most annoying tweeting things I'd ever heard in my life. Not to mention the fresh realization that I'd spent a night in the greenwood with a bunch of wolf-heads. I scrambled to my feet, examining the clearing. Gisbourne was asleep, or at least so I deduced from his relaxed pose. In fact, everyone was still abed (excluding the bed. Dirt was the best they seemed to have in June). Well, no, Marian was up, and she was staring at Robin Hood, who appeared to be sleeping in a rather lofty tree. I now knew he was crazy. Somehow, Marian wasn't looking at him quite like that…

"Marian," I whispered. "Hi. Morning." She effervesently turned to me.

"Good morning! Wonderful morning! How did you sleep?"

"Well enough. Do you have to be so loud in the morning?"

"Of course! Nothing wakes me up better!" She turned back to the still-resting Robin.

"Whoever said you had to be awake?" I grumbled. At that moment, Robin's eyes finally opened. He sprang up, landing neatly on a branch above. He looked quite startled, and I had the impression he didn't exactly know what we were doing here and whether or not we would try to shoot him, but that passed in a blink and he jumped down.

"A morning of most high esteem!" What was it with people and mornings in Sherwood? Marian and Robin got into an animated conversation about fish. I didn't see how folks could concentrate on fish that early in the day. I did get a little less weirded-out when some of the others arose. They weren't as insanely cheerful as Robin and Marian, who were talking about something different, but equally thought-provoking, as he heated up barely-existent leftovers from the night before for breakfast. Marian tossed the occasional plant into the pot. I decided that I should probably go find a stream so I could survive being around two such energy-filled people. Luckily for me and my nonsense of direction, I chanced to spot a few outlaws with the same plan, whom I followed discreetly.

"So what did you think about the final decision?" Little John asked Will Scarlet.

"Well, I personally would've gone for an honorable duel sort of thing, just since it's more fun, but sending ol' Gisbourne off with rags and minus that black dragon of his… Not a bad idea." Birds were chirping at maximum aggravation level now. Dark green leaves, just recently touched by sunrays, rattled with the flutterings of the creatures, who must've been dealing with a full-fledged war at the rate they were zooming around and screeching. Birds. I inwardly reiterated my desire to cook them all. The two outlaws in front of me, one remarkably large and the other all decked out in cardinal colors, ignored them and carried on their conversation.

"Speaking of sending people off, what do you think Marian and that maid of hers are going to end up doing?" Little John wondered.

"No idea. You know Marian. I wouldn't be surprised if she got herself a permanent post with us."

"I don't know 'bout that," Little John replied. "Seriously, that maid looked none too happy about this whole set-up. And you saw how well she looks after Marian."

"Yeah. It's too bad, in a way. She seems like she'd be an asset if she could get over her fear of outlaws. I mean, not only can she handle Marian, she can look pretty cute when she's not scowling at us." I scowled at them. They still hadn't noticed me trailing after them. Not long after this, they halted at a ditch pretending to be a stream, with its combination of mud and water. Oddly enough, they seemed to have a great deal of fun splashing and pushing and slipping and so forth. Just looking at how messy their tunics were getting made me glad Marian wasn't doing the same. After what seemed like hours, they headed back to the clearing, far more awake and refreshed than they had been. I made my own way to the stream, trying not to get quite as muck-covered as Scarlet and Little John had. For the most part, I succeeded, and headed back to camp mostly clean and dry.

"Here you are," Scarlet was saying to Guy, tossing him a bundle of misshapen cloth (how bundled cloth can be misshapen, I didn't know, but it was). Marian pranced over to me.

"They ended up deciding that they'd give Guy—"

"I know. I overheard. Has anything else happened this morning while I was splashing at that abominable ditch?"

"Not really. They're planning on having breakfast once Gisbourne leaves, so there won't be that extra stomach."

"Wait…Now Guy knows you're friends with the outlaws, though, so won't he be trying to get at you constantly from now on?"

"Yeah, well, see, this is where there's been a little disagreeing…" Marian murmured.

"Not really," Robin broke in. "She likes to think there is, but really, it's already been decided that you and Marian will go back home, and I'll send a few of my men to watch Guy. That way everyone but Marian and Guy is happy. What do you think?" Stunningly enough, I actually liked this outlaw chief's idea. Marian frowned.

"No! I refuse to put on that stuff!" Guy protested when the ragged garments were pressed into his arms (which were now tied in front of him instead of behind). "You accursed Saxons! I will not be forced into meek subversion by the likes of you!" One could tell he didn't really know what certain longer words meant. It drew a grin from Marian. Half of the outlaws (which, at that moment, meant five) sleepily escorted him out of view, probably home. Marian tried to get back on the track in which she and Robin argued over whether or not she could stick around in Sherwood.

"Good luck getting him under control. Speaking of which, Becca and I will be staying a week or two, so Guy can have a little time to cool down."

"Nope. What about your family? I'm sure your father is already sending out search-and-rescue squadrons. Oh—I forgot. You'll need a cover story, if you don't already have one," Robin said. He was very carefully sharpening a knife. The sound it made grated not only on everyone's ears, but their nerves as well, which had lost a little something to begin with, being woken up so early.

"I can lie," Marian said indignantly.

"This is true," I muttered. Many incidents testified to this questionable talent of hers. Robin, seeming satisfied as to her welfare, kept honing the blade, despite certain men inching closer with unpleasant expressions.

"All right then." He stopped with the knife, much to everyone's relief and his own health. "Have we had breakfast yet? I've forgotten. Oh, we haven't? Okay, then. After breakfast, we'll send you two home. Breakfast. Who's making breakfast?"

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Well. If you've read one of my other RH stories, you might see some similarities. Hope you don't mind. By the way, it's not a sequel, though perhaps it'll turn into a prequel. Review! please.


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